Supreme Court Opinions, Part II
As promised, here are some very brief summaries of the latest Texas Supreme Court opinions.
In In re Pirelli Tire, L.L.C. (No. 04-1129) (orig. proceeding), a case brought by non-U.S. residents, the Court held that the trial court abused its discretion by denying a motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens. The Court relied on the private and public interest factors set out in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501 (1947) and held that they "clearly and overwhelmingly favor a Mexican forum for resolution of this dispute." The Court further held that the "[e]rroneous denial of an forum-non-conveniens motion . . . cannot be adequately rectified on appeal." Justice Willett (joined by Justice Wainwright) issued a concurring opinion, and Justice Johnson (joined by Chief Justice Jefferson) dissented.
In both Springer v. Springer (No. 06-0382) (per curiam) and Sprowl v. Payne (No. 06-0533) (per curiam), the Court held that dismissal of an appeal was improper even though the appellant failed to either pay the filing fee or file an affidavit of indigence "with or before" the notice of appeal as TRAP 20.1(c)(1) requires. Relying on TRAP 44.3, the Court reversed the court of appeals' judgment of dismissal in both cases, concluding that "failure to file an affidavit of indigence 'with or before' a notice of appeal will not support dismissal unless the appellant is given a reasonable time to correct the defect and fails to do so."
In Knapp Medical Center v. De La Garza (No. 06-0575) (per curiam), the Court held that TRCP 11 barred enforcement of a disputed oral settlement agreement reached during trial.
In Bossier Chrysler-Dodge II, Inc. v. Rauschenberg (No. 06-0874) (per curiam), the Court reversed and remanded the case to the court of appeals in light of Barker v. Eckman, 213 S.W.3d 306 (Tex. 2006), which held that the issue of attorney's fees should ordinarily be retried when damages are significantly reduced on appeal.
In In re J.A.J., (No. 07-0511), the Court held that an appellant whose parental rights have been terminated must specifically assign error to the Department of Family and Protective Services' appointment as conservator. If the parent appeals only the termination decision, any error in the conservatorship appointment is waived.
